How do you want to feel?

In my last post I mentioned our ability to choose our emotional state. When connecting with our vision of the future, it is essential that we align our dreams and desires with the matching emotional state. To truly elicit change this is a must! The ability to visualise what we want is not enough to then expect it to simply materialise. The two equally important steps are creating the state (emotion) and taking action.

Today we’ll explore the simple step of creating the state.

To start I’ll tell you a bit about my experience with this. I once believed that the way I felt at any given time simply came and went independent of me… essentially I was a passenger on a bus that someone or something else was driving. I would be driven to angry town, lonely town, happy town and then tired town, sometimes all in one afternoon. Every day was different, and ultimately this created an environment where I never knew what mood I would be, nor did those around me. It wasn’t extreme, but enough for me to know something needed to change.

What I now know and believe, is that we can pick and choose the emotional state we wish to be in. I am the driver of my bus and I am responsible for how I feel minute to minute and day to day. It was only when I slowed down and really considered what came before the feeling, that I realised that I was doing ‘something’ to create them. With this ownership I felt a sense of command about how I could do thing differently and ultimately get a different result.

So let’s have a play with this… right now, I want you to try on the emotion of sadness. To do this you will probably go through a series psychological and physiological processes. For me my shoulders slump, my breathing becomes slow and shallow, and I create a picture of losing something I love. The cumulative effects of these factors create the deliberate state of sadness within me. I could sit in this state for a while, but who wants too?! Sadness has it’s place in the world of feeling and I choose to feel it and replace it with something better serving right now.

Ok, so now shake it off and think of something totally different….. like flying to the moon on a banana!? Now, try on the state of happiness. Just feel it…This time my body is filled with a buzzing energy. It works its way up my spine and sits around my ears. A smile comes across my face and I sigh and swallow with contentment. I sit in this state for a while basking in how good it feels. I am the creator of this feeling.

The simplicity of this self-experiment demonstrates the ease at which we can move in and out of emotional states. I see this as a process and one that is learned and practiced, so I make sure you have fun with it.